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Trump Connects the Dots on Dangers of Illegal Immigration

But the Left attacks him for the picture it creates.October 31, 2018Michael Cutler

President Trump has publicly expressed concerns about the nature and nationality of the individuals heading towards the U.S. in the supposed “Caravan of Migrants.” Consequently he ordered that the military provide active duty members of the Army to assist with efforts to secure the U.S./Mexican border.

Trump warned that embedded within that organized mob of foreign nationals are members of transnational gangs such as MS-13 and individuals from the Middle East who may be involved in terrorism.

The talking heads on the supposed “journalists” from the mainstream media, and such brilliant television personalities as the panel on the television program “The View” have derided the president, claiming that he had no justification for making those statements and, essentially accused him of lying to fire up his base of right wing conservatives.

In reality, President Trump is connecting the dots, but the globalists and the radical Left don’t like the picture that the connected dots create, so they attack him.

By now this tactic of attacking the President is not a surprise. If President Trump were to say that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, it is likely that the Radical Left would trot out a supposed astrophysicist who would find a way to claim that the President was wrong.

Each day the President is given a security briefing where he is provided with intelligence from the intelligence community. It is entirely likely that during those briefings the issue of the nature of the foreign nationals heading to the United States was a topic.

Of course I am only speculating about whether or not the President’s Daily Briefing has provided President Trump with information about the nature of the members of the caravan. What is not speculation is the fact that the Border Patrol has been encountering and arresting illegal aliens from countries from around the world who attempted to enter the United States without inspection when they were apprehended.

Here is an excerpt of the testimony of one of the witnesses, Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies:

In recent years, Hezbollah’s Latin American networks have also increasingly cooperated with violent drug cartels and criminal syndicates, often with the assistance of local corrupt political elites. Cooperation includes laundering of drug money; arranging multi-ton shipments of cocaine to the United States and Europe; and directly distributing and selling illicit substances to distant markets. Proceeds from these activities finance Hezbollah’s arms procurement; its terror activities overseas; its hold on Lebanon’s political system; and its efforts, both in Lebanon and overseas, to keep Shi’a communities loyal to its cause and complicit in its endeavors.

This toxic crime-terror nexus is fueling both the rising threat of global jihadism and the collapse of law and order across Latin America that is helping drive drugs and people northward into the United States. It is sustaining Hezbollah’s growing financial needs. It is helping Iran and Hezbollah consolidate a local constituency in multiple countries across Latin America. It is thus facilitating their efforts to build safe havens for terrorists and a continent-wide terror infrastructure that they could use to strike U.S. targets.

Khan is a citizen of Pakistan who had established himself as a permanent resident in Brazil and then smuggled numerous illegal aliens from the Middle East into the United States through Mexico. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) issued a press release about this case, Foreign national extradited and pleads guilty to human smuggling conspiracy.

On April 17, 2018 the Washington Free Beacon published a report with the unambiguous and disconcerting headline, Iranian-Backed ‘Sleeper Cell’ Militants Hibernating in U.S., Positioned for Attack.

On April 21, 2010 the Washington Times published a disturbing report predicated on a Pentagon report to Congress on Iran’s military operations in Latin America, Iran boosts Qods shock troops in Venezuela. Here is an excerpt:

The report gives no details on the activities of the Iranians in Venezuela and Latin America. Iranian-backed terrorists have conducted few attacks in the region. However, U.S. intelligence officials say Qods operatives are developing networks of terrorists in the region who could be called to attack the United States in the event of a conflict over Iran’s nuclear program.

On March 18, 2015, during the Obama administration, The United States Institute for Peace published a primer on Iran, Iran's Influence in Latin America, that began with the following excerpt:

On March 18, the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa and the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere held a joint hearing about Iran and Hezbollah’s involvement in Central and South America. The committees discussed Iran's attempts to expand its influence in Latin America during the last 30 years, as well as the Islamic Republic's alleged involvement in attacks in Peru and Uruguay and the mysterious death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman. The following are excerpted statements from the subcommittee chairmen and testimony of the witnesses.

Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere Jeff Duncan

“Given the impending deadline for nuclear negotiations over Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program, I believe it is critical for the U.S. to re-examine Iran and Hezbollah’s activities in our own neighborhood. Congress has conducted sustained, rigorous oversight on this issue with multiple Committee hearings, classified briefings, and the passage of legislation I authored, the Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act, into law in 2012. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration continues to ignore this threat even while Iran and Hezbollah expand their reach. Following a September 2014 Government Accountability Office report that found the State Department failed to follow this law, the Administration has taken no concrete action to address these problems.”

Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

“Iran and Hezbollah’s history of involvement in the Western Hemisphere has long been a source of concern for the United States. Given the nature of transnational criminal networks existing in Latin America and the rise of terrorism ideology being exported worldwide from Middle East, it is disturbing that the State Department has failed to fully allocate necessary resources and attention to properly address this potential threat to our nation. It is well known that Iran poses a security threat to regional affairs and has expanded its ties in countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Ecuador. The United States needs a comprehensive understanding of Tehran’s efforts in Latin America in order to thwart any potential risk to our allies and U.S. national security.”

While the thousands of aspiring illegal aliens who have become a part of the caravan now heading north have captured headlines and much attention as they make their way northward, in point of fact, each and every day, 24/7, illegal aliens enter the United States by evading the inspections process at ports of entry along the northern and southern borders of the United States, by stowing away on ships or finding other means to evade the inspections process conducted at ports of entry.

Other aliens enter the United States legally, through the inspections process as temporary (non-immigrant) visitors and then remain in the United States after their authorized period of admission expires and/or otherwise violate the terms of their admission.

I would compare the impact to the United States of the onslaught of the thousands of aspiring illegal aliens in the caravan to a person trying to shovel out his driveway during a blizzard getting hit by a snowball. That snowball may well get his/her attention, but the vast majority of the snow in his driveway is the result of hours of constant snowfall.

The biggest issue where the caravan is concerned is that by surging at the border, the Border Patrol may well find itself overwhelmed. This is the most dangerous part of the problem, that the Border Patrol might not be able to deal with the huge numbers that suddenly confront them. The Adjudications Officers will also likely be overwhelmed when these aliens proclaim that they are seeking asylum. With limited resources to detain these asylum seekers and with limited resources to interview them and then conduct investigations into their claims for asylum, many of these aliens will either not be stopped or will have to ultimately be released.

It has been estimated that only about 2% of aliens who are released ever show up for their immigration court dates. 98% disappear into communities across America.

These aliens demonstrate little fear of repercussions for not appearing when ordered. In the game of “hide & seek” that they play with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), there are precious few ICE agents who are available to try to find them and take them into custody when they fail to show up. Furthermore, if they can make their way to the increasing number of supposed “Sanctuary Cities” that have been created around the United States by Democratic mayors and Sanctuary States created by Democratic governors, they know the their chances of escaping detection by ICE increases exponentially.

Of course the Republicans who refuse to provide funding for the Border Wall and for adequate numbers of ICE agents also adds to the immigration crisis, making certain that illegal aliens have no reason to fear the consequences of their violations of our borders and our laws.